Formula 1’s most awkward paradox has a signature and a date on it. The world governing body’s second Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) review, announced by the FIA on Wednesday 26 August, leaves Red Bull-Ford Powertrains as the only manufacturer barred from introducing homologation upgrades through the rest of 2026 and into 2027.
The number that matters is zero. Under the ADUO catch-up mechanism written into the 2026 power-unit regulations, Mercedes, Ferrari, Audi and Honda have all been handed development tokens; Red Bull has been handed none.
Benchmark on paper, fourth on Sunday
The FIA’s ruling covers the first two ADUO review periods. Mercedes was placed between two and four per cent off the benchmark, earning one upgrade for 2026 and one for 2027, plus a $3 million cost-cap allowance and 70 extra hours of bench testing. Ferrari, Audi and Honda were placed more than four per cent adrift and awarded the maximum: two upgrades in each of the next two seasons.
Red Bull sits at the top of that table. It also sits fourth in the constructors’ championship on 186 points, behind Mercedes on 425, Ferrari on 338 and McLaren on 263 after the Dutch Grand Prix.
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That mismatch is now the story. The FIA has locked in Red Bull’s classification as the field’s strongest internal combustion engine while three of the four teams ahead of it, or supplied by manufacturers ahead of it, are free to develop their way further clear.
Mekies: ‘a large risk’
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies flagged the exposure after the first ADUO verdict landed, telling reporters “there is a large risk there for Red Bull, so you are completely right in exposing that risk”. He warned that being frozen at the benchmark while rivals worked on non-combustion components of their power units could open a competitive gap Red Bull had no legal route to close.
The FIA, for its part, has told teams it will not go behind its own numbers.
“Due to the confidential nature of this information, no further details on power unit performance index measurements will be communicated,” the governing body said in its second-review statement, per The Race.
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Single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis conceded only that “naturally there are areas which we may evolve over time”.
Verstappen: ‘the fourth-fastest team’
If the regulatory picture is clinical, Max Verstappen’s on-track diagnosis is blunt. The Dutchman crashed out at the start of his home Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, catching a still-wet patch at the final banked corner as he tried to accelerate onto the drying line, and used the weekend to state his verdict on Red Bull’s season without dressing it up.
“We are the fourth-fastest team, so it’s not like walking up to Zandvoort and suddenly we can do some magic things,” he said heading into the race weekend, according to Motorsport Week.
“Yeah, hopefully in Monza we can be a little bit more competitive.”
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That is the reality the ADUO paperwork now formalises. Red Bull’s chassis and aerodynamic package have slipped behind Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren on race Sundays, and its power unit, the one component the team could in theory rebuild its advantage around, is the one the rules will not let it touch.
The next round, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, is scheduled for the weekend of 4-6 September.
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